Master of Arts in Educational Leadership course descriptions

EDL-500: EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP - FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE (3 credits)
This course provides students an opportunity to investigate, analyze, and apply various theories of leadership and associated concepts specified in the Interstate Schools Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) and New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) standards.  Student will begin the process of designing a professional portfolio that demonstrates competency as an effective educational leader. Offered every term.

EDL-510: THE INQUIRY PROCESS - A FRAMEWORK (3 credits)
This course will introduce students to action research. Future educational leaders will study an intervention chosen specifically to respond to a research problem identified through reflection. The goal of the course and of action research is for students to gain better knowledge of their practice while improving the situation in which the practice is conducted. Students will develop competencies as an educational leader as outlined in the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium standards. Offered every term.

EDL-520: THE CYCLE OF INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP: STANDARDS-BASED CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT (3 credits)
Potential educational leaders need to understand the importance of how student achievement is related to curriculum development and issues influencing curriculum change.  Included are such influences as national and state standards established to guide local curricular planning and development to meet the changing needs of students and other stakeholders in a diverse community.  Also examined are personal and organizational vision statements, instructional and program evaluation, and curriculum change and implementation.  Various research approaches and data-based decision making serve as essential components of the course. Offered every term.

EDL-530:  ASSESSING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS (3 credits)
Students will evaluate the effectiveness of educational programs and course curricula. The overall purpose of the course is to develop assessment techniques and skills that educational leaders need to design, deliver, implement, and maintain quality outcome-based educational programs. Students will explore strategies and processes for creating new programs (or revising established programs) to meet the needs of diverse populations as well as for supporting staff and faculty.  The focus of this course is on improving data-based decision-making and interpretation skills in order to maximize achievement at all grade levels and in all subject fields. Specifically, students will examine data collection and analysis, the issues of validity and reliability, test question structuring, and overall meaning that can be applied to assessments. Ultimately, students will be developing competencies as educational leaders as outlined in the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium and New Jersey Department of Education standards.  Offered every term.

EDL-540: EFFECTIVE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP (3 credits)
Effective School Leadership provides students with multiple opportunities to critically analyze and apply various contemporary theories of effective school leadership to your professional practice.  All theories are aligned with the national ISLLC standards and the NJDOE state standards, research-based frameworks informing the knowledge base, dispositions, and performances of effective school leaders.  This course focuses on the performance aspects of effective leadership including empowering others, building collaborative organizational cultures, making informed decisions and communicating them skillfully, and resolving conflicts. Participation involves learning theoretical concepts through reflective writing activities, case studies, self-assessment, and practice ISLLC exams. Offered every term.

EDL-550: SCHOOL LAW (3 credits)
School leaders as stewards of the educational process must ensure that the schools follow both the letter and the spirit of the law.  The democratic principles of the United States require leaders to protect and serve the rights of students, staff and other stakeholders.  This course enables the future school leader to examine the federal, state and local laws, court decisions, rules and regulations impacting on education.  Both general principles and specific applications are examined to provide the leader with the knowledge and understanding of the constitutional basis of both curricular and extracurricular programs and services.  In addition, the course presents the opportunity to analyze such issues as desegregation, due process, student rights, tenure, and special needs students. Offered every term.

EDL-660: HUMAN RESOURCES ADMINISTRATION (3 credits)
In this course, students learn the latest methods for attracting, inducting, motivating, retaining and supporting staff and how to monitor and supervise certificated and non-certificated faculty and staff to set high standards for the professional participation of all adults in the school community. Students apply systems management and collaborative decision making to effect change, particularly with respect to meeting state and district requirements. Offered every term beginning July 2008.

EDL-670: TECHNOLOGY FOR INSTRUCTION AND ADMINISTRATION (3 credits)
This course emphasizes the visionary leadership role of the principal as an instructional technologist, one who can thoughtfully and strategically provide direction to selection, use and evaluation of constantly changing technologies. Students assume a critical stance toward technology, its implications for effective school management and its impact on the teaching/learning process and the roles of teachers and learners. Offered every term beginning July 2008.

EDL-680:  BUDGET FORECASTING AND FISCAL PLANNING (3 credits)
In this course, students, in collaboration with their school district mentors, examine the cyclical nature of budget development and implementation. Students analyze a budget at their school site and project how the budget should be implemented and coordinated so it aligns with the educational vision. Offered every term beginning Oct. 2008.

EDL-690: DEVELOPING SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS (3 credits)
Students develop an awareness of the political, social, cultural and economic systems and processes that impact their school communities by examining local, state, national and global policies, issues and forces that affect teaching and learning. Students learn techniques for advancing the goals and aspirations of diverse family and community groups so they can integrate information about these populations into school decision-making processes at their academic levels. Offered every term beginning Oct. 2008.

EDL-700: FIELD-BASED PRACTICUM (3 credits)
The field-based practicum requires each student to engage in a 120-hour internship experience at their school site or at an alternative site, where they apply theory to practice at a specific academic level. At the outset of the program, each student is required to select an experienced, credentialed administrator as a mentor, an individual who agreed to assist them to gain access to a school setting so they could carry out a field-based practicum and conduct their inquiry projects. Students are also required to keep a structured, reflective journal of their field experiences in order to become reflective practitioners who process what they learn. Fieldwork competencies are identified for each course, including shadowing a school administrator or principal, facilitating parent-teacher conferences, interfacing with district office personnel to implement curriculum, making a presentation to the board of education, using data-driven decision making to recommend how instruction may be improved and marshaling resources to enrich instructional programs. Students share their experiences online and assess their fieldwork competencies in the context of the practicum course. Open only to students matriculated in the MAEdL program. Prerequisites include EDL 500, 510, 520, 530, 540, 550, 660, and 670. Offered every term beginning January 2009.

EDL-710: PROFESSIONAL PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT (3 credits)
As the capstone experience in the program, students prepare an electronic portfolio that demonstrates their incremental achievement of the program standards. Students compose self-assessment narratives that reflect their experiences in the program, analyzing and assessing the degree to which they have achieved their goals, the influences they experienced which enabled them to master the subject, and the barriers that inhibited their progress. Standards-based competencies may be substantiated through documentary evidence of site-based participation in educational leadership roles and responsibilities, letters of endorsement or support from qualified site administrators, class assignments and research papers, reflective journal entries, contact logs with mentors. Open only to students matriculated in the MAEdL program. Prerequisites include EDL 500, 510, 520, 530, 540, 550, 660, 670, and 680. Offered every term beginning January 2009.